In my younger days, I used to go to Playland a lot. There was even a time where I became completely addicted to those machines in the arcades on the ocean side at Playland where you roll the balls into the holes and if you got them in a certain order you would win a free game. I became really good at it and won so many free games I didn't have to pay a lot to play.

Though I went to Playland a lot, there was what I use to call the second playland next to the regular playland and I never went to that one. I don't think it was ever mentioned on this board and I don't really recall ever seeing any photos of it though deep in my memory of 40 or more years ago, I think I remember seeing from outside of it some kind of what do they call them, a ride through some house thing like the Disneyland Pirates of the Carribean ride. This second playland was right across the street from Playland at the north east end and it cost money to get in. I should have went there but I never did. There are a lot of things I should have went to but didn't because I just wasn't a historical sentamentalist then. This mini playland had a name, maybe it was called something Town. I don't remember. I'd like to know if anyone here ever went to it and what was inside of it.

-- Harry Murphy (harrymurphy*@bigmailbox.net), December 09, 2003

Answers

Sounds like you're describing "Fun Tier Town", a kind of kiddie land attraction with a western theme built in the 1950s across La Playa Street from the rest of Playland. While not officially part of Playland, it was definitely part of the Whitney family's empire.

Fun Tier Town was influenced by the raging popularity of Disneyland and took the place of an older ride known as "Laff in the Dark."

-- John Martini (jamartini@slip.net), December 09, 2003.

Harry: i remember going into Fun Tier Town once maybe twice - it was very lowkey and never drew much of a crowd. if i did go a second time, it was because a buddy worked there. do you remember the Arnold Palmer golf range that opened in the mid 60s ? it was right across Balboa ( south side )from Fun Tier Town. or, the horse races at Fulton and La Playa ?

-- mike dempsey (mikede1087@aol.com), December 16, 2003.

I moved to California with my parents in 1965 when I was 6 years old and remember quite vividly some of the attractions in Fun Tier Town. There is a picture of the old Diving Bell on one of the main Playland sites, although the diving bell was actually in Fun Tier Town. The place was dedicates to smaller kids and from what I can remember, there were some of those old cars that you "drove" around a track, guided by rails in the middle of the road. There was also a miniture railroad aswell, which took you around the top edge of the park and round a "themed" western area. I can also remember a small ferris whell, which had brightly colored cages going round. I've just come across an old phot with me sat on the knee of a plastic cowboy in the park. On the back my mom had written Fun Tier Land, rather than Town. Town would make more sense, although if it was called "land", it would show it was assocciated with Playland. I seem to remember there was a big slot car racing place on the front of the park and I went in there a few times. We moved back to England 2 years later, but condsider California my "spiritaul home. Lived in Martinez, Concord and finally settled in Vallejo. My father worked at benecia for Yuba Consolidated Industries, which i believe went into liquidation a couple of years after we moved back home. I'm trying to trace some of my childhood at the moment, to see if my memories are true, or whether my mind is just playing tricks on me.

-- Bryan Jones (bryan-helen@bh125es.fsworld.co.uk), March 31, 2004.

>>In my younger days, I used to go to Playland a lot. There was even >>a time where I became completely addicted to those machines in the >>arcades on the ocean side at Playland where you roll the balls >>into the holes and if you got them in a certain order you would >>win a free game. I became really good at it and won so many free >>games I didn't have to pay a lot to play.

You're talking about Skee-Ball, and I think you can still find it at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.

-- Steve Green (sgreen200@hotmail.com), July 25, 2004.

If I remember correctly, the game where we rolled the small rubber balls into the holes to form a pattern was named "Fascination". By contrast, in SkeeBall the goal was to roll large wooden balls down an an alley, up a ramp and into holes of various values to attain a high score. The pay-off to SkeeBall came in the form of little red tickets that could be redeemed for prizes -- if you amassed enough of them. (The small print claimed the tickets' actual value was something like a mil.)

-- P.S. Perris (psperris@slip.net), July 26, 2004.